Custom labels are currently printed on state-of-the-art flexographic presses. The label stock from which the labels are made is most typically secured by an adhesive to a long and continuous and relatively narrow web. These presses can produce either roll or fanfolded labels up to 16" wide and 21" long.
In the case of fanfolded labels, these presses either include or operate in conjunction with a mechanism or apparatus that both imparts to the web a plurality of regularly-spaced crease lines at appropriate places along its length, and fanfolds the labels and their web along these crease lines and into a neatly stacked configuration.
These fanfolded labels may include blank portions for subsequent custom printing by either the label manufacturer or, increasingly, the ultimate label user. Such custom printing is generally done on a standalone electronic printer, such as the
Legitronic.TM. electronic label printing systems assembled from various O.E.M. equipment and Legitronic software written by Weber Marking Systems, Inc., the assignee of the present invention.
The labels are fed across the generally flat top of such a printer, printed with the desired indicia, and then discharged at its far end. The top of the printer is typically thirty-five to forty (35"-40") inches from the floor Ideally, the discharging, printed labels and their web would have a "memory", and would begin both folding along their crease lines and restacking themselves on the floor below. In this way, the labels would reassume the neatly stacked, fanfolded configuration in which they were fed to the printer.
In practice, however, the labels and web frequently do not assume this configuration. Rather, the webs have an invariable tendency to become tangled as they are discharged from the printer and before reaching the floor. Once this tangling occurs, it can only be remedied by a machine custodian, who must straighten the web, refold it along its crease lines, and restack it properly. Often, this remedy requires that the custodian stop the printer, resulting in costly downtime. Occasionally, labels or webs will become damaged, torn, or otherwise rendered unusable by this tangling
Machines have been devised to deal with this problem. However, they are costly to purchase and require periodic maintenance and repair In the absence of another, more inexpensive device, their cost may have been deemed reasonable by large label printers. However, smaller label printers may have found the cost of such machines prohibitive.
Accordingly, a low-cost and relatively low maintenance solution to the web-tangling problem was sought